"The ruling shows how ridiculous and outrageous the Orthodox monopoly over religious services and population registration is in Israel," says Yizhar Hess, executive director of the Masorti movement in Israel, which is affiliated with Conservative Judaism.

"It's absurd," he adds, "that the state of the Jews is pushing the best of its sons and daughters away from their religion and away from the tradition of living as free people.

Israel is the only country in the Western world in which Jews don't have freedom of religion. Now we are paying the price for this outrageous insensitivity."

Lawyer Yael Katz-Mastbaum, who represented Kaniuk in court, told The Jerusalem Poston Sunday the court’s ruling was consistent with the spirit of the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom.

The right to define oneself is a “fundamental right that should be taken for granted, without any restrictions,” Katz-Mastbaum said, adding that the ruling could now have wider implications including for civil marriage in Israel.

"Freedom from religion is a freedom derived from the right to human dignity, which is protected by the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom," Judge Gideon Ginat of the Tel Aviv District Court wrote in his unusual ruling.

The decision recognizes the right of a citizen to choose not to belong to any religion.

It also embodies a more fundamental significance that leaves religiously observant Jews to deal with the age-old question of "Who is a Jew?" and promotes the debate on "What is a Jew?" - not those who the rabbis determine as one, but those for whom being a Jew is their nationality.

The Religion and State Index reveals that nearly the whole of the non-ultra-Orthodox public supports mandatory military or civil service for the ultra-Orthodox. 85% of the non-ultra-Orthodox population (79% of the total Jewish population) support reducing state funding for both yeshivas and large families in order to encourage ultra-Orthodox men to enter the workforce. This is an increase of 4% as compared to 2010 and 8% as compared to 2009.

85% of the non-ultra-Orthodox population also holds that ultra-Orthodox educational institutions should be obligated to implement core curriculum including math, sciences, English and civics.

Among the Jewish population, 46.1% prefer this combined definition of the State of Israel; 29.5% emphasize the “Jewish” component and only 22% the “democratic” one.

Halakha vs. Democracy

In the event of a conflict between the two, 49.7% of the Jewish population believes that preference should be given to upholding democratic principles, while 21% prefer observing the tenets of Jewish law and 26.5% say that each issue should be judged separately.

The survey's findings reveal that 56% of Jews in Israel believe state and religion should be separated. Thirty-five percent support this stand "very much" and 21% support it "pretty much". On the other hand, 28% are strongly against it and 16% are somewhat against it.

An analysis according to religious definitions reveals that 85% of haredim, 87% of religious Jews and 54% of traditional Jews oppose separating state and religion, while 80% of seculars are in favor.

It is also worrying that Jewish texts are often used selectively to support liberal decisions by the Court; this opens the door for future judges who may be appointed for political reasons to use other Jewish texts to support ultra-conservative, or even fascist, judgments.

Notwithstanding the Foundations of Law Act (1980), Jewish law should be kept out of the secular court system, except perhaps in matters of civil law, which have no real bearing on the essence or character of the State of Israel (for example, torts and contracts).

Life for Israeli agunot has gotten a little easier since New York native Susan Weiss founded the Center for Women’s Justice to help women whose husbands refuse to grant them a bill of divorce.

Joel Katz, a leading observer of religion and state issues, called her “one of the unsung heroes in the fight for women’s rights in Israel,” stressing her “tenacity in seeking − and achieving − long-term strategic change, rather than just settling for minor victories.”

“We’re aiming for social integration and social change, we’re not trying to change halacha. Many religious communities are becoming increasingly accepting of gays, albeit mainly in dati leumi [national religious] society, and the goal of Havruta is to advance this process.”

They were not alone in linking the demonstrations that convulsed Israeli society these past several months to Zionist ideology.

Those leading the rallies and those participating in them were not concerned only about having a roof over their heads and putting food on their tables but also about creating a society rooted in the value of looking out for one another, a value repeatedly articulated as being rooted in Jewish sources and the Zionist vision.

This was a summer not about “me” but about “us.” For the first time in a long time, the focus was not on the individual but the on collective.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and a Shalom Hartman Research Fellow in Jerusalem.

We need a Zionist conversation, unafraid of the topic – or the label – exploring the meaning of our dual religious-national base, appreciating the opportunity Jewish sovereignty gives us to live our ideals and build what we at Hartman’s Engaging Israel project call “Values Nation,” pondering the delights and challenges of living 24/7 Judaism in our old-new land.

We know the truth, though: The only reason there is an [Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs] is that Netanyahu had to appoint Edelstein to his cabinet, as a reward for political loyalty and with an eye to the next elections, to make sure that Likud would have a Russian-born minister.

There was no need for the MPDDA before Netanyahu formed his government and when a new prime minister comes along, on that very day, the MPDDA will evaporate, from obscurity to nothingness. But its spirit will live on.

Just when we thought we had heard the last of Guma Aguiar, the colorful American businessman made a stunning return to Israeli sports on Sunday when he was announced as the new owner of Hapoel Jerusalem basketball club.

The 34-year-old first came to Hapoel’s rescue in August 2009 when he gave the cashstrapped club $1.5 million, a month after transferring Betar Jerusalem $4 million.

Current U.S. Conservative rabbinical students are no less attached to Israel than older rabbis belonging to this movement, a leading researcher of American-Jewish attitudes toward Israel said this week.

While the museum had anticipated wide interest in the website, interest has exceeded expectations.

Between last Monday, when the website was launched, and Sunday morning, Google logged 1,042,104 visitors to the site, which not only provides an opportunity to see detailed images of the five scrolls, but also features an English translation.

Sarah Kreimer is associate director of Ir Amim, an Israeli organization dedicated to building an equitable, stable and sustainable Jerusalem.

Just as American Jews would balk at Evangelists running the Statue of Liberty National Park and twisting American history, so too should Israelis and Jews around the world who care about Jerusalem speak up about an arrangement that is dangerous for Jerusalem’s future, divisive for Jews, and harmful to peace.

The government is expected to give final approval in the next few weeks to bring to Israel more than 7,200 remaining members of an Indian community who claim descent from one of the lost tribes of Israel.

The decision to allow the last members of the Bnei Menashe to immigrate to Israel is being greeted with excitement by local Evangelical Christian groups, who view it as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and who have pledged financial support for the move.

Some five years ago, UJA-Federation of New York, the largest of its kind in the world, decided to bring the spiritual care to Israel. They initiated a conference of ten foundations that deal with various types of mental assistance for patients, and together they began creating programs that would train Jewish spiritual care providers.

Since the group was established, some 25,000 Israelis received spiritual care in various fields such as: Addiction, old age, victims of terror, and illness.

Robert De Niro and his fellow judges at Cannes are not generally known for their interest in Jewish studies, but an Israeli film set in the Hebrew University's Talmud department won the award for "Best Screenplay" at the prestigious French film festival this spring.

In part, though, the decline of Jewish studies in Israel represents another, more complicated trend.

...The answer to that unspoken question is that although the orientation of academic Jewish studies was never either explicitly religious or explicitly nationalist, the field did usefully inform, supplement, and, in certain cases, provide a cultural substitute for those qualities as well as an intellectual meeting ground of Judaism and Zionism.

Now, with the exception of a few secular "study houses," much of serious Jewish learning is increasingly left to the religiously and/or ideologically motivated—notable among them the ultra-Orthodox (haredim), who in principle reject the approach that sees Judaism in the context of the eras it has traversed and the cultures with which it has interacted.

By Faith Alone: The Story of Rabbi Yehuda Amital, Elyashiv Reichner's newly (and fluently) translated biography, is an attempt to understand an extraordinary man and his long, arduous path from a simple Jewish life in prewar Hungary to a unique and controversial place in Israelireligious and political life.

It is essential reading not only for understanding Amital's own story and the history of Religious Zionism but also for its portrait of a religious virtuoso who combined deep faithfulness with great daring.

An Israeli who is disconnected from his Jewish identity, or whose Jewish identity is based on shallow folkways, and is lacking any high culture, will come to see his residing in Israel, his service in the IDF and even his ethnic identity as a whole as optional. Only a renewed Judaism can act against this.

After visiting Bina – the Secular Yeshiva this summer and learning texts under its teachers’ guidance, together with a tour group of North American teenagers, I believe that it, and other similar institutions, can serve as vehicles for a secular Jewish rejuvenation in the Land of Israel.

MK Yisrael Eichler, chairman of the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset, harshly criticized the Trajtenberg Report on Tuesday, particularly its recommendations regarding the integration of haredim into the labor market and education in haredi schools.

The Trajtenberg Committee stated in its report that the Education Ministry needs to ensure that all elementary schools teach core subjects such as mathematics, English, computers and at least one of the traditional sciences.

MK Yisrael Eichler:

“United Torah Judaism maintains and will maintain the independence of the haredi education system, which guarantees the existence of Israel throughout the generations.”

5. The most daring proposal: To require the Haredim to teach core subjects at their schools.

The committee, one must stress, targeted the demand only at primary schools, grades 1 to 6. Even this committee wouldn't dare suggest the same for the yeshivas that are the ultra-Orthodox equivalent of high schools for boys.

One of the major distortions in the distribution of the social burden in Israel is the complete absence of ultra-Orthodox men from the workforce. Due to the rapid growth of ultra-Orthodox society, this sector is the fastest growing in Israel.

Therefore, any steps towards a more socially just society sought by the middle class must include measures to ensure the integration of ultra-Orthodox [men and/or women] into Israeli society as well as the economy.

On September 5 and 6, hundreds of participants assembled at the Israel 2021 conference, sponsored by The Marker newspaper as a forum to discuss Israel’s future regarding a wide range of fields, including integration of the ultra-Orthodox population as one of the seven topics chosen to focus on.

Meanwhile, MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) proposed a bill requiring Arab and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools to teach the Ministry of Education’s core curriculum in order to receive government funding. Sheetrit proposed a similar bill earlier this year, which was voted down.

Sheetrit cited a poll by Hiddush: For Religious Freedom and Equality, which says that 80 percent of Israelis favor requiring haredi pupils to learn core subjects, and 64% say schools that do not teach these topics, which include math, English and civics, should not be funded by the government.

Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger took the IDF to task for dismissing the four cadets from officer candidate school and suggested that in the future, events where many religious male soldiers will be present should feature only male singers.

If this is impossible, he added, the army should at least bar women from singing at events where a large portion of those present follow a strict interpretation of the prohibition, such as his own, which would require them to leave the event.

Sir, – How could this have been a legitimate order? The attorney general should have demanded that the commander be reprimanded for unnecessary religious coercion.

As Martin Stern pointed out in letter published on the same date (“Sour notes”), it does not involve any military need and is comparable to forcing women to sit at the back of the bus. Both are examples of the intolerant attitude that “my social mores are acceptable but yours are not.” [...]

A Livni-led government without religious partners would really signal a new era in Israeli politics. It would also be a welcome change for women, who have the most to lose from Israel’s increasing religious fundamentalism.

After all, religious parties have put pressure to keep women in the back of buses, out of certain army units, off the public stage, off party lists, in separate workplaces and, of course, bodily covered to the hilt.

This is one of the greatest impediments to women’s well-being and human rights in Israel today. Moreover, this threat to women’s human rights represents a significant danger to the future of democracy and civil society in Israel in general.

The zealots claim their objections to the store stem first and foremost from the sale of "books of apostasy and heresy."

…There is also a possible connection between the storm surrounding the store and a wider dispute that is taking place a few dozen meters away. It involves the homes of the Batei Warsaw neighborhood. In this controversy, the anti-Zionist zealots are pitted against their arch-enemies, the Gerer Hassidim, who are part of the Haredi mainstream.

There is a thriving paparazzi industry in the Haredi world today, starring magazines and websites full of photos of esteemed religious figures at family and other events, and fueled by large sums of money.

The ascendance of the photographic papers and magazines is directly connected to the growing tendency in the Haredi world to become more permissive regarding publication of images and information about rabbis' lives.

For ultra-Orthodox Jews who shun secular newspapers, radio and the Internet, the best way to hear the news has long been by literally reading the writing on the wall.

The insular, strictly religious community still relies on black and white posters pasted up on walls in their neighborhoods to hear the latest rulings from important rabbis on modest dress, upcoming protests and the correct way to vote in elections.

A new initiative launched by an ultra-Orthodox radio station offers listeners "strictly kosher" traffic reports, presented exclusively by men.

According to Kol Barama officials, the station's traffic reports will focus on the ultra-Orthodox communities of Elad, Bnei Brak and Beitar Illit, rather than on places like Herzliya, Haifa or Tel Aviv.

Senior members of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations General Assembly held a special prayer Saturday night on the grave of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, at the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York.

On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned the Rebbe as he presented the Israeli stand against the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN General Assembly.

Benjamin Netanyahu promised to tell the truth at the United Nations, and the truth was indeed revealed. The prime minister chose in this speech to quote reverently from his meetings with one person only: the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who viewed himself as the messiah.

The El Al rabbi this week issued a leaflet with strict instructions to Hasidic pilgrims flying to Ukraine for the High Holidays, following passengers' inappropriate behavior on the airline's planes in recent years – including smoking, refusing to put on their safety belts and destroying equipment.

The Israeli who drowned in Uman, Ukraine, on Rosh Hashana is Eli Eliah, a 19-year-old yeshiva student from Netanya, authorities announced on Sunday.

Eliah drowned last Thursday while taking part in a tashlich ceremony, a traditional Rosh Hashana prayer recited near a body of water, in the river that runs through the town where Rabbi Nachman of Breslov is buried.

Police have detained about 100 activists of Ukraine's nationalist party on Sunday who protested the annual pilgrimage of Hasidic Jews in southern Ukraine.

About 300 supporters of the nationalist party Svoboda, or Liberty, demanded that Hasidic Jews not be allowed to gather in the town of Uman, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of the capital. The protesters at the rally shouted "Ukraine for Ukrainians."

Years ago, I visited Uman for a few hours on a trip up from Odessa where I was staying for a few weeks. I had long been intrigued about the location to which so many Breslover Hassidim make the journey each year on Rosh Hashana.

Avi Yesawich is an independent journalist and political commentator on Middle East affairs. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Tel Aviv University, is an IDF combat reservist and is co-founder of www.israelicentrism.com

What we are witnessing is a deliberate attempt to use Judaism not only as a religious dogma, but as a powerful and effective political tool utilized in order to maximize the agendas of religious Jews and the ultra-right wing here in the State of Israel.

...Members of the Orthodox establishment maintains a strict interpretation of Jewish law as found in the Torah and Talmud, which they claim doesn’t evolve over time.

The Shin Bet security service is urging the Education Ministry to immediately halt funding to the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva in the settlement of Yitzhar, near Nablus, saying it has received intelligence information that senior rabbis in the yeshiva are encouraging their students to attack Arabs.

"We have murderous rioters surrounding us, according to the Torah, there is room for collective punishment and the IDF must carry out the punishment against the rioters. There are no innocents in a war," Rabbi Dov Lior said.

Yehuda Etzion, a resident of the settlement Ofra, has a draft master plan for Jerusalem, which he is preparing with a team of Ofra residents and an architectural firm.

The plan centers around the Third Temple: where a ring road will pass, where pilgrims will park, where observation points will be located. The Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem will be demolished. They are not part of the plan.

The Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has decided to take advantage of the new technology in order to bring postcards back into fashion in a new way, aiming to connect between Jews all around the world.

In an unprecedented endeavor, a few Muslim believers are crossing the Holy Land's volatile boundaries of culture, faith and politics to bring Islam to Israel's Jews — hoping, improbably, that some will be willing to renounce their religion for a new one.

The bearded men approach Jews in and around the Old City of Jerusalem and try, in polite and fluent Hebrew, to convert them.

The controversy surrounding the construction of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem has not abated.

As building continues on the Mamilla site that is known to have previously been a large Muslim cemetery, the debate surrounding it has developed into a clash between human dignity (respect for the deceased) and the urban development interest of modern society.

Beyond that, argues Prof. Yitzhak Reiter, it now "reflects a conflict between the needs of the Jewish state and the sensitivities of the Muslim-Arab minority, with its needs for symbols of identity in the local and national landscapes."

A new initiative designed to raise the number of people signing up for organ donation cards has been formally approved by Tzohar, the religious- Zionist rabbinical group.

In a meeting last week at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, 40 rabbis from the organization voted to approve a new organ donor card and framework which seeks to reduce any concerns potential religious organ donors may have that their organs will be harvested in a manner in keeping with Jewish law.

A 14-year-old boy who complained of a chronic rash on his left arm and hand has been diagnosed with a “tefillin rash” – caused by the chemical potassium dichromate, which is used to process the black straps of the phylacteries.

Israeli authorities have granted a residency permit to Jerusalem’s Anglican bishop, Palestinian Suheil Dawani, after months of legal wrangling, the clergyman said in a message to his supporters on Tuesday.

Dawani was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Jerusalem in 2007, and as a non-Israeli is required by Israeli authorities to obtain a temporary residence permit. This was granted in 2008 and 2009, but he was turned down in 2010.

The Petah Tikva District Court has decided Monday to allow Yigal Amir, who is serving a life sentence for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to meet with another prisoner three times a week for prayer.

Aside from these meetings, Amir is to remain in solitary confinement at least until next January.

The knowledge that there was a group of pedophiles among them was a tremendous blow to local residents.

In the small neighborhood, which is known for its pluralism and openness, Yiddish-speaking Haredim, American skullcap wearers, Bratslav Hasidim and even secular people live in coexistence and with mutual respect. They all testify that, before the incident, this was an open, trusting neighborhood.